


Final Payment

by slytherintbh



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Insomnia, Oneshot, Other, Sibling comfort, major character death is a bit of a trend with me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-24 00:43:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7486677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slytherintbh/pseuds/slytherintbh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I don’t <i>want</i> to go, Mabel.” </p>
<p>He sounds like a child. It’s been two years, and he sounds just as afraid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Final Payment

“Stop it.”

Dipper doesn’t stop, exhausted smile ghosting happiness as his tired eyes beg for peace. One side of his mouth slips - only faintly, but enough to betray the unseen grimace. He stands and stares. His legs waver slightly, hands shivering in his energised exhaustion.

Mabel can feel the heat of the tears building, and the sharp jab of her heart collapsing. “Please, Dipper. Stop this.”

“I can’t.” He isn’t even angry, no real inflection in his voice beyond lonely acceptance. “I’m so sorry, Mabel. Don’t make this harder -”

“It can’t  _ be _ any harder,” she hisses (because Stan and Ford cannot be allowed to hear, not this time). “How can this be any worse than it already is?” Her voice cracks audibly. 

Dipper winces, then pastes on that  _ fucking _ smile and reaches out for her arm. Incensed, she almost turns away - then doesn’t, because when will they ever have this again? He’s a dead weight against her skin, almost cold. “If I wait any longer, then it’ll be worse. Trust me. How long can a human last without sleep?” Dipper laughs uncomfortably. It’s a very foreign sound, and as much as they’ve missed it it hovers above them like a bad memory. “I want to do this,” he insists. 

“But he’ll kill you.” Were it not so silent, Dipper likely wouldn’t have heard his sister’s words. 

“Yeah.” It’s a bitter admission. “I’m dying anyway, sis. Just think of it as… speeding up the process. And don’t say we can stop him,” he continues, stalling Mabel’s half-formed rebuttal. “If it’s not me, it’ll be you. Pacifica. Wendy.  _ Stan. _ ”

For a second, she understands him. Nobody deserves to take the fall. Even so - “We’ve stopped the  _ apocalypse _ . We can stop this!”

“This is different, Mabes.” He taps at his temple. “He’s in here, somewhere, and Ford’s tried everything. What haven’t we done? Metal plates, computers, do you remember the road trip?”

“Dipper, please -”

“Waking up screaming in a motel bed wasn’t the best experience of my life. We weren’t even in the ‘Falls at that point, and I don’t…” Dipper’s shoulders roll forward and he drags his twin into a hug, fingers digging into her oversized pyjama shirt. He smells like their parents’ favourite brand of soap, and lingering night sweat. “I don’t  _ want  _ to go, Mabel.” 

He sounds like a child. It’s been two years, and he sounds just as afraid. 

“But you have to,” she whispers.

“I have to,” he echoes. 

“Is there really nothing we can do?”

Dipper pauses, and rests his head on her shoulder. “I’m so tired.” Which isn’t really an answer. She knows what he means. 

“I can’t live without you,” she mumbles. 

It takes him a moment to blink through the tears. “I can’t live.” It sounds so dramatic that they both exhale soggy laughter, drawing back so that Dipper can discreetly swipe at his eyes. The bags underneath them are more pronounced, somehow. 

“Make him fight for it.” 

“Until the last second,” Dipper promises, and his gaze flickers up the stairs, where footsteps are treading the worn flooring. 

“Aren’t you going to say goodbye to them?” Mabel toys with her hair gently to hide her disappointment.

“You know they’d stop me.” Planting one last kiss on her forehead, Dipper stumbles to the front door, hand hovering above the doorknob. “Tell them that I’ve gone out to - meet Wendy. The Journal is under my bed.”

Meaning  _ it’s yours now, use it well. _

“Thank you,” she breathes. Why isn’t she stopping him? “I love you, Dip-dop.”

“I love you so much, Mabes.” His desperate smile reappears. “Never forget that.”

She waits until the door is fully shut before she starts crying, and hears Dipper do the same. Every drop of her will goes into staying where she is rather than running to join him. It is only the knowledge that two deaths would destroy her parents that tempers her spirit.

When the clock chimes midnight and her great uncles are desperately searching the area for her brother, Mabel remains curled up on Stan’s worn armchair, counting the wrinkles in the leather. 

When Ford receives a call at 5 in the morning, he crumples, falling to his knees and shaking. Stan is out with the policemen, so Mabel doesn’t get to see his reaction when they finally find the body, miles out into the forest. 

When the words  _ battered _ and  _ mutilated _ try to meet her ears, Mabel refuses to take them in.  _ He fought _ , is all that she hears. 

Bill Cipher never troubles the Pines family again. 

**Author's Note:**

> I've been abroad and stupidly busy, so I'm trying to get myself out of a bit of a writing funk. Naturally, I did this by producing some angsty oneshot with poor exposition and no real aim, but I had fun doing it! If you're a Wires reader then I apologise profusely.


End file.
